Travesty or Justice?

Judge orders new trial for billionaire John Goodman in DUI manslaughter case

Billionaire polo tycoon John Goodman, who is currently serving a 16-year sentence on house arrest for a 2010 drunk-driving accident that led to the death of a 23-year-old engineering student, will get a new trial.

A Florida judge made the surprise ruling late Friday, saying that one juror's behavior had compromised the fairness of the verdict.

In a self-published book titled Will She Kiss Me or Kill Me?, juror Dennis DeMartin wrote that his ex-wife has been arrested for DUI. When the information was revealed, Goodman's legal team protested that, in spite of being asked directly, the juror did not reveal his ex-wife's DUI charge. Had they known, they say they wouldn't have selected him.

Goodman, the heir to a Houston air conditioning empire estimated at $300 million and founder of the International Polo Club Palm Beach, was driving a Bentley at a high speed when he ran a stop sign and slammed into Scott Wilson's Hyundai and sent it into a nearby canal in Wellington, Fla., in February 2010.

“A juror who deceives to get on a jury in a high profile case for his own profit is a trial lawyer’s worst nightmare," said defense attorney Roy Black.

Goodman fled the scene of the accident, according to authorities. Wilson, an engineering graduate, drowned while strapped in his seatbelt.

Goodman testified that his $200,000 car malfunctioned and lurched forward, slamming into Wilson's vehicle. Goodman denied being drunk at the time of the crash, although his blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit three hours after the crash.

It took the jury only six hours to find Goodman guilty of DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide. He remained under house arrest pending his appeal.

DeMartin claimed he did not lie before he was seated on the jury, but instead blamed memory loss based on a stroke he had in 1988.

Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Colbath disagreed. "A defendant is entitled to a fair trial, not a perfect one," Colbath wrote in his ruling. "The cumulative effects of DeMartin's antics, however, have transformed an imperfect but fair trial into a constitutionally impermissible proceeding."

Goodman, 49, also made headlines when he adopted his girlfriend, Heather Hutchins, 42, in an attempt to preserve part of his fortune for her while negotiating a civil suit settlement. In March, a Miami appeals court reversed the ruling that allowed the adoption.

Goodman's defense attorney Roy Black was jubilant. “A juror who deceives to get on a jury in a high profile case for his own profit is a trial lawyer’s worst nightmare," Black said in a statement. "Fortunately, this time the deception was exposed and a courageous judge set aside the verdict. But in this new world of social media and self‐publishing, expect this to occur more frequently. John Goodman's trial should stand as a warning to all of us.”

John Goodman at his first trial

MoviesPad.com

John Goodman at his first trial

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income analysis

Texas families need to make this much money for one parent to stay home

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

With costs to raise a child soaring over $20,000 a year in Texas, some households might decide to have one parent work while the other stays at home to raise their child.

As the cost of raising a child balloons in major cities like Houston, many families are weighing the choice between paying for child care or having one parent stay home full-time.

A recent analysis from SmartAsset determined the minimum income one parent needs to earn to support their partner staying at home to raise one child in all 50 states. In Texas — not just Houston — that amount is just under $75,000.

The study used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to compare the annual living wages needed for a household with two working adults and one child, and a household with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. The study also calculated how much it would cost to raise a child with two working parents based on factors such as "food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes and other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent would need to earn $74,734 a year to support a stay-at-home partner and a child, the report found. If two parents worked in the household, necessitating some additional costs like childcare and transportation, it would require an additional $10,504 in annual income to raise their child.

SmartAsset said the cost to raise a child in Texas in a two-working-parent household adds up to $23,587. Raising a child in Houston, however, is somewhat more affordable. A separate SmartAsset study from June 2025 determined it costs $21,868 to raise a child in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro.

In the report's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child, Texas ranked 32nd on the list.

In other states like Massachusetts, where raising a child can cost more than $40,000 a year, the report acknowledges ways families are working to reduce any financial burdens.

"This often includes considerations around who’s going to work in the household, and whether young children will require paid daycare services while parents are occupied," the report said. "With tradeoffs abound, many parents might seek to understand the minimum income needed to keep the family afloat while allowing the other parent to stay home to raise a young child."

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income threshold to support a three-person family on one income are:

West Virginia – $68,099
Arkansas – $68,141
Mississippi – $70,242
Kentucky – $70,408
North Dakota – $70,949
Oklahoma – $71,718
Ohio – $72,114
South Dakota – $72,218
Alabama – $72,238
Nebraska – $72,966

texas income smartasset family